With a voice that
caresses like melted caramel and lyrics that touch the deepest recesses
of your emotions, singer/songwriter Brenda Russell proves that a glowing
talent only deepens with time. Author of such gems as "Piano In The
Dark," "If Only For One Night," and the much-loved anthem
"Get Here," Brenda returned to the marketplace in 2000 with
the release of Paris Rain on Hidden Beach Recordings-her first studio
album in seven years. The exquisitely crafted album displayed her song
craft and richly nuanced voice in an elegant journey of mood, melody and
memory that satisfied longtime fans and enchanted new listeners.
Recently signed to Dome Records, an R&B-focused label based in
England, Brenda is now working on new material for her next solo set
scheduled for release in 2004.

Along with composing
songs for her upcoming record, Brenda has continued to exercise her
considerable gifts in a variety of projects. She is currently co-writing
(with Allee Willis and Stephen Bray) the music for a Broadway production
of the Pulitzer Prize-winning novel "The Color Purple" by
Alice Walker slated to hit the stage in 2005. She also co-wrote the song
"Justice of the Heart" with Stevie Wonder for the Denzel
Washington movie John Q---a song which Wonder performed. And her
co-composition with Brazilian artist Ivan Lins, titled "She Walks
This Earth," was recorded by international superstar Sting for the
all-star tribute album Love Affair: The Music Of Ivan Lins. Sting's
inspired performance of the uniquely beautiful song earned him a Grammy
Award in 2001 for Best Pop Male Vocal Performance.

This past December, she
made her 6th annual appearance on the Dave Koz & Friends Smooth Jazz
Christmas Tour with the sax star. Last year, her recording with Koz and
the other tour artists of A Smooth Jazz Christmas CD was nominated for a
2002 Grammy for Best Pop Instrumental Album. That CD included a new
version of her classic "Get Here" which received yet another
re-working last fall by American Idol's Justin Guarini, who performed it
in the 2002 Macy's Thanksgiving Day Parade and on Oprah as well as
recording it for the American Idol: Greatest Moments compilation CD on
RCA Records.

Fellow artists who
appreciate Brenda's music call on her formidable talent for penning
music and lyrics again and again. Singer Will Downing benefited from
Brenda's songwriting with one of her co-compositions, "Don't You
Talk To Me Like That" (co-written with Vinx and Mark Cawley)-a Top
20 Urban AC hit from his 2002 Verve Records album Sensual Journey.
Solomon Burke's critically acclaimed and Grammy-winning 2002 comeback
album Don't Give Up on Me (Fat Possum) features "None of Us Are
Free," co-written by Brenda, Barry Mann and Cynthia Weil. The three
are among an all-star lineup of songwriters on Burke's recording
including Bob Dylan, Elvis Costello, Van Morrison, Tom Waits, and Brian
Wilson.

And just to keep things
fun, Brenda wrote incidental music for the animated series "Fat
Girl" on the Oxygen Network, as well as an animated internet short
series titled "Driving While Black" for urbanentertainment.com.
She also composed the theme music for the syndicated "The Ananda
Lewis Show;" a daytime talk show hosted by the former MTV VJ.

Born to musical parents
in Brooklyn, New York, Brenda grew up there and in the Canadian town of
Hamilton, Ontario. She encountered her first piano while singing as a
teenager in the Canadian company of the rock musical "Hair" in
Toronto

Without a formal
musical education, Brenda says she worried that she would never be able
to write a song. "Then I had this revelation that: 'You're not
doing this, you are just a channel for this, something opened up and it
came through you.' Once I realized that I was sort of fearless about
songwriting after that. Because if that's the way it is, I can do
anything, and that's the premise I've based my whole writing career
on."

In the late 1970s, now
living in Los Angeles, Brenda and her manager began circulating a demo
of her songs. She was signed to Tommy LiPuma's Horizon Records, and her
first single, "So Good, So Right" was released in 1979. Brenda
transferred to A&M Records, where she formed a bond with label
founder Herb Alpert and released Brenda Russell and Love Life. Her
contract was picked up by Warner Bros. for the 1983 album Two Eyes
before moving to Sweden, where she wrote tunes for her A&M return,
Get Here. That 1988 album contained the Grammy-nominated "Piano In
The Dark," the gorgeous "Le Restaurant," and the title
cut, which was a hit for Oleta Adams a few years later.

After a 1992 Greatest
Hits package and her 1993 set Soul Talkin'(EMI Records), Brenda took
time off to regroup and travel. Continuing to write, produce, and
collaborate with other artists, Brenda honed her craft and contributed
tunes to other projects, including albums by Diana Ross, Tina Turner,
Patti LaBelle, the score to How Stella Got Her Groove Back, as well as
writing and performing two songs in director Barry Levinson's film
Liberty Heights.

As one of few artists
who have successfully been able to incorporate a wide range of musical
influences--rock, pop, R&B, jazz, classical, Latin--into a distinct
style that defies categorization while attracting fans around the world,
Brenda Russell's music endures through time and trends. As evidence, her
self-titled debut was re-released on CD by Universal Records in 2000,
and the label, which now owns her A&M catalog, released Brenda
Russell: Ultimate Collection in 2001. And last year, music writer David
Nathan's Ambassador Soul Classics label reissued Two Eyes.

"I never write
songs that are without hope," the accomplished artist explains.
"People have to be inspired to another level. Like: My heart can go
on! I may feel like I'm going to die, but I won't because something good
could be around the corner. I take responsibility on myself to inspire
people and even make them cry. Yes, I'll make you cry but I won't leave
you hopeless."